User blog:Snowstripe the Fierce/Tales of Corsairs: The Sea Wraith

One gloomy evening had dawned upon the island of Terracaedis, an island which had proved to be the capital of most corsairing. Gambling,ndrinking, fighting, and earning blood money were not uncommon evening activities. I fact, this had earned the isle it's nickname, The Isle of Blood. It was ruled by the searat-greatrat hybrid Queen Scelesta, who, inherited both her father Scrallgan Warfang's Rapscallion army, which guarded her sandstone palace and were the law enforcement of the land, and her mother Captain Navita's fleet of thirty ships, one of which she captained herself, the Stingray. However despite the isle's savage, brutal, shell, it had a culture, which had been combined with all the folk tales of searats. The white vixen Selah was telling one of these tales to a band of young searats and corsairs, all rangng from three seasons to fourteen seasons. A few of the band's parents were there as were other miscellaneous sea vermin. They were all huddled around a fire, which at a moment's notice could go out.

"Is everybeast ready to listen?" the vixen asked. She was rewarded with silence. "Alright them. Have any of you ever heard of the Sea Wraith?" she asked. A chubby young searat answered.

"Yah, my mama allus says 'yew better eat yer seabird or th' Sea Wraith'll eat yer!' she alsa says 'yew better be faster takin' orders or a big ol' badger will crush ya!'!"

"Yes, but do any of you know the story behind the name?" she asked. There was no reponse at all.

"Well, a long, long time ago, there was a searat captain. He was known throughout the Western Seas and even as far east as Salamandastron. He was a huge searat, with a scimitar, cutlass, sabre, and bright, blazing, green eyes. They say you could feel them burning into the back of your skull when he stared at you. He was Maja Ra, the Searat King. Now, there had been many searat Kings before him, but he was the First true one. In fact, nobeast could ever even compare themselves to him until Gabool the Wild.

He began as a simple crewbeast aboard the ship Snatcher. He was good friends with another searat, his brother Chadah, who looked almost exactly like him, except Chadah had icy blue eyes. Together, they started a mutiny against the captain of the ship, and since Maja was older, he became captain, and Chadah became first mate. On board the ship Snatcher, the two plundered, pillaged, and fought against other corsairs until they became very, very famous."

A weasel, about eleven seasons, interrupted. "But 'e was famous fer being a captain on another ship, The Hell-" .

"Yes, I was going to get to that. One time they were sailing, a great storm came and tore the Snatcher apart. Few survived, except for Maja, Chadah, their weasel bosun Frill, the ferret steersbeast Skodra, and twoscore others. Maja and the others, floating back ashore, decided to recruit others. to help them build what Maja had been planning for his whole life. A whole new ship, huge, fast, and with a crew that, fully armed, could take on a whole fleet. It took ten seasons to build and collect enough beasts to be the crew. It had a gold plate on the back, with a name that would strike fear into the hearts of any beast: The Hellhound." the weasel was pleased now, and three Rapscallion soldiers, on patrol, sat down to listen.

"The Hellhound' was massive, with four decks, not counting the oardeck. It was painted a deep blue, and had a giant grayling's skull on the front. However, unlike most searats, he did not use slaves for all the rowing. Instead only the front half of the boat was oared by slaves. Two score of the ship's crew were rowers. They all got plunder, and they would always return to land every three seasons. However, one fateful day, Chadah and Maja got into a huge argument, and it resulted in Chadah and twelve others planning a mutiny on board The Hellhound. It failed, however, as Chadah, although both brothers were very skilled with the sword, lost his footing and got his leg sliced by Maja's scimitar, resulting in him being very badly wounded, and Maja getting his left paw hacked at by Chadah's cutlass, getting him badly wounded. Eventually both had to get the injured member cut off."